Finally some minor victories against the corporate interest .<\/p>\n
ACLU prevails: US Fed Judge invalidates gene patent
\nCory Doctorow at 10:15 PM March 29, 2010
\nUnited States District Court Judge Robert W. Sweet has invalidated Myriad Genetics's infamous “breast cancer patent” — a patent on genetic mutations that cause breast cancer, which Myriad has exercised in the form of a high lab-fee for analysis on samples (Myriad threatens to sue any independent lab that performs the analysis).
\nThe suit was brought by the ACLU and the Public Patent Foundation, who argued that US Patent and Trademark Office was wrong to grant patents on genes, as these are not patentable subject matter. The judge agreed, saying that gene patents are patents on a “law of nature” and called the isolation of genes and filing patents on them “a lawyer's trick that circumvents the prohibition on the direct patenting of the DNA in our bodies but which, in practice, reaches the same result.”
\nWhich sounds to me like a precedent against all patents that rely on isolated genes. Of course, this isn't over: the pharma\/biotech stalwarts interviewed in the linked NYT piece are talking appeal, and I'm sure they'll try to go all the way to the Supreme Court.
\nvia ACLU prevails: US Fed Judge invalidates gene patent – Boing Boing<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Finally some minor victories against the corporate interest . ACLU prevails: US Fed Judge invalidates gene patent Cory Doctorow at 10:15 PM March 29, 2010 United States District Court Judge Robert W. Sweet has invalidated Myriad Genetics's infamous “breast cancer patent” — a patent on genetic mutations that cause breast cancer, which Myriad has exercised … <\/p>\n